BREWING. 
ought to have a moveable wooden co- 
ver. There are two side openings in the 
interval between the real and false bot- 
toms ; to one is fixed a pipe, for the purpose 
of conveying water into the tun ; the other 
is fitted with a spigot, for the purpose of 
drawing the liquor out of the tun. The 
brewing commences by strewing the grist 
or bruised malt evenly over the false bot- 
tom of the mash-tun, and then, by means of 
the side pipe, letting in from the upper cop- 
per the proper quantity of hot water. The 
water first fills the interval between the 
two bottoms, then, forcing its way through 
the holes in the false bottom, it soaks into 
the grist, which, at first floating on the sur- 
face of the water, is thus raised off the bot- 
tom on which it was spread. When the 
whole of the water is let in, the process of 
mashing, properly so called, begins. The 
object in mashing, is to effect a perfect mix- 
ture of the malt with the water,, in order 
that all the soluble parts may be extracted 
by this fluid : for this purpose, the grist is 
first incorporated with the water by means 
of iron rakes, and then the mass is beaten 
and agitated, and still further mixed by 
long flat wooden poles, resembling oars, 
which indeed is the name by which they 
are technically known. In some of the 
large porter breweries, the extent of the 
tun is so great, that the process of mashing 
cannot be adequately performed by human 
labour, and recourse is had to a very simple 
and effectual instrument for this purpose. 
A very strong iron screw, of the .same 
height as the mash-tun, is fixed in the cen- 
tre of this vessel, from which proceed two 
great aims or radii, also of iron, and beset 
with vertical iron teeth a few inches asun- 
der, in the manner of a double comb ; by 
means of a steam engine, or any other mov- 
ing power, the iron arms, which at first rest 
on the false bottom, are made slowly to re- 
volve upon the central screw, in conse- 
quence of which, in proportion as they re- 
volve, they also ascend through the con- 
tents of the tun to the surface ; then, in- 
verting the circular motion, they descend 
again in the course of a few revolutions to 
the bottom. These alternate motions are 
continued till the grist and water are tho- 
roughly incorporated. When the mashing 
is completed, the tun is covered in to pre- 
vent the escape of the heat, and the whole 
is suffered to remain still, in order that the 
insoluble parts may separate from the li- 
quor : the side spigot is then withdrawn, 
and the clear wort is allowed to run off, 
VOL. I. 
slowly at first, but more rapidly as it be- 
comes fine, into the lower or boiling cop- 
per. The principal thing to be attended 
to, is the temperature of the mash, which 
depends, partly on the heat of the water, 
and partly on the state of the malt. If any 
quantity of barley is mingled with twice its 
bulk of water, the temperature of the mass 
will be very nearly that of the mean tempe- 
rature of the ingredients. If the palest 
malt is subjected to the same experiment, 
the temperature will be somewhat greater 
than that of the mean heat. The most eli- 1 
gible temperature upon the whole for mash- 
ing, appears to be about 185° to 1P0° of 
Fahrenheit: the heat of the water, there- 
fore, for the first mashing, must be some- 
what below this temperature, and the lower 
in proportion to the dark colour of the malt 
made use of. Thus, for pale malt, the wa- 
ter of the mash may be at 180° and up- 
wards; but for high-dried brown malt, it 
ought not much to exceed 170°. 
The wort of the first mashing is always 
by much the richest in saccharine matter ; 
but to exhaust the malt, a second and third 
mashing is required ; and as no heat is ge- 
nerated, except in the first mashing, the wa- 
ter in the succeeding ones may be safely 
raised to nearly 190°. The proportion of 
wort to be obtained from each bushel of 
malt depends entirely on the proposed 
strength of the liquor. For sound small 
beer, thirty gallons of wort may be taken 
from each bushel of malt; but for the 
strongest ale, only the produce of the first 
mashing, or about six and a half gallons per 
bushel, is employed. But whatever be the 
proportion of wort required, it must be held 
in mind, that every bushel of well made 
malt will absorb and retain three and 
three-quarters gallons of water, and, there- 
fore the water made use of must exceed 
the wort required, in the same proportion. 
Boiling and hopping. If only one kind of 
liquor (whether ale or beer) is to be made, 
the produce of the three mashings is to be 
mixed together ; but if both ale and beer 
are required, the wort of the first, or of the 
first and second mashings, is appropriated 
to the ale, and the remainder is set aside 
tor the beer. All the wort destined for the 
same liquor, afterithas run from the mashtun, 
is transferred to the large lower copper, and 
mixed while it is heating with the required 
proportion of hops. The stronger the wort 
is, the larger proportion of hops does it de- 
mand : and Ibis is calculated in two ways, 
either according to the quantity of malt em- 
Ss 
